The invention relates, generally, to pinball games and, more particularly, to an improved play feature for such games.
Pinball games, as will be appreciated, typically consist of an inclined playfield supporting a plurality of playfield features such as targets, ramps, skill shots, bumpers and the like, a rolling ball and player controlled flippers. The player operates the flippers to propel the ball at selected play features to score points and control the play of the game.
The success of a manufacturer's line of pinball games depends, in part, on its ability to create new and exciting playfield features to attract players to its games. It will be apparent that novel play features must continuously be developed which challenge the player and are fun to play. In addition to the standard flippers, many games include other player controlled play features, so called "skill shots", that require player involvement, such as pressing a button, to complete the shot. Such a skill shot is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,462 issued to Biagi et al. which discloses a ball projecting mechanism that is fired at a selected target by the player pressing a button. U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,298 issued to Lawlor et al. discloses a ball diverter for a pinball game. A novel, player controlled skill shot for a pinball game is desired.